Lance let go of Shepherd''s collar almost instantly when Shepherd gripped his wrists. But he was still shouting from pain because Shepherd had still not let go of his hands. Shepherd was seething at the moment. So many things had gone wrong and so many things were going wrong. He had completely lost control of the situation.


    He had not been in control before when they were betrayed. When they were being chased through the woods like dogs. When his men were gravely injured and many fell in battle. When he was shot and fell in battle. When he woke up in this strange place and did not know where he was, surrounded by these unfamiliar people. And certainly not now when they were bullshitting him with another world and magic nonsense. Shepherd had enough and he had just been given a reason to vent his frustration.


    Albert was already standing and Elena also stood up from her seat worried about her son and embarrassed by what he had done. Liliana was shaking and tears had welled up in her eyes when she heard her brother screaming.


    "Please let him go, Shepherd. I know what he said and did was wrong but let him go. This is not the time." Albert asked him to stop. Shepherd did not really listen, he was still angry and did not register his request. Elena and Liliana also asked him to stop and let go of Lance.


    “Let go his hands, Shepherd. No matter the reason you are trying to break a Prince’s hands and I cannot possibly allow you to do something like that. Please calm down.” Daiki grabbed Shepherd''s hands and tried to stop him. He was ready to intervene and stop him by force but the only reason that he had hesitated to do so was that Albert had asked him not to.


    Shepherd finally let up and calmed down. He stared at Lance for a second and then let go of his hands. He pushed him back causing him to fall but Daiki caught him before he could hit the ground.


    ‘What am I trying to do? Just because I am angry at my situation, my helplessness, I am trying to hurt a kid? I really do need to calm down.’


    Lance had been freed from Shepherd’s grip. But he was still not done. His arrogance would not allow him to let Shepherd go after he had hurt him. A commoner had tried to hurt a royal, a prince like him. He escaped from Daiki’s embrace and started barking back at him.


    "You filthy commoner! You dare put your hands on me? a prince? I will have your head on a pike. Arrest him Daiki! Arrest this filthy animal right now!. I want this bastard to hang by his neck!"


    Lance was shouting at Shepherd non-stop. He had forgotten who he was, where he was, and who he was with. He was standing with his father, the King, and instead of listening to him, he had continued to threaten his guest. His ongoing rant was stopped when Albert’s hand, colored his cheek red.


    "Shut up Lance! You want to arrest my guest! Hang him? You dare! Your father, the king is standing next to you and you want to execute my guest? In my presence?" Albert was now furious at him. Before he had only been rude to Shepherd but now he had crossed a line. He knew how arrogant his son had become but he had never expected that in his pride he would put his hands on the hero.


    "But father he was disrespecting you. Disrespecting me. We are royalty and this commoner needs to respect us. He needs to learn his place." Lance quipped back to try and defend his actions but Albert was having none of it.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "Shut up and get out of here! I do not want to see your face for the rest of the night. Get out of here now!"


    ''Why is father taking this commoner''s side? He is the one who is disrespecting us. Father has become too weak. The nobles are right when they say that father has become a coward. Just you wait, my time will come.''


    Lance wanted to say something back to his father but seeing his father fuming, he stopped. He did not want to get slapped again. He had been waiting for his chance to appear to overthrow his father and it had just been presented to him. Now he needed to be patient. But a child who grew up in protection has a false sense of pride, a brat like that did not have that patience. He scowled at Shepherd one last time and then left the room.


    "I am sorry for what happened. I will apologize in my son''s place. He has become this arrogant because I spoiled him. These are the results of my unfiltered love for him. Listening to his every whim." Daiki did not like to see his king apologize to someone lower than him in stature. He wanted to stop him rather he tried to stop him but Albert apologized anyway.


    "Please sit down Shepherd, I have just realized my mistake in my explanation and the misunderstanding caused by it. I will explain to you why I am calling this another world and what is magic." Albert begged Shepherd to sit down and give him another chance to explain.


    Shepherd wanted to leave the place at the exact moment because he could not believe these people and their absurd claims of magic. But he could see how sincere Albert was. He could see his determination and although it was absurd, the talk of magic, but it did not look or feel like Albert was lying to him. So reluctantly he gave a nod sat back down. Then they all proceeded to sit down and the discussion continued.


    Albert was quiet for a while and was thinking hard. He had finally understood the reason for Shepherd’s outburst before. Why he was so angry at the mention of magic. The only conclusion that Albert could reach or did reach was that maybe Shepherd’s world never had magic, to begin with.


    "Shepherd, you say that magic is fake right? That it is just a sleight of hand meant to fool people or in this case you? You believe that we are trying to deceive you somehow? Am I right so far?" Albert asked Shepherd to try to unravel the misunderstanding.


    "Yes, there is no such thing as magic or another world. That is why I know that you have been lying to me since the moment we met. Just tell me the truth, no matter what it is I will accept it and I will leave." Albert finally understood what the problem was and addressed it.


    "From what I can gather the reason you do not believe me is because your world did not have any magic right? But something close to it. Maybe some form of imitation. Because you call it sleight of hand makes me believe that people in your world tried or try to emulate magic but in the end, it is always fake. Fake enough somehow that no one believes in it.” Albert asked Shepherd and waited for a second, for him to confirm his theory. Shepherd replied with a single nod.


    “I am afraid that for this conversation to go any further first of all I would have to help you believe that magic is real in this world. Not the cheap imitation that you think it is. And secondly, proof that this world is not the one where you were born and raised but another world. If I can establish to you the existence of magic then would you be willing to at least try and believe me?"


    Shepherd was a little confused with Albert’s suggestion. How could he prove something that does not exist in the first place? Is he going to use some mechanism to conjure fire out of nowhere? Was he really that confident that he could prove it? Or maybe, just maybe, the chances were pretty slim but maybe they were right. Shepherd wanted to see just how would they try to fool him so he agreed to his proposal.


    "Yes, If you say it is real then prove it. If magic is really real then I would certainly have to believe you."


    Albert then smiled and answered him. “It would quite easy for me to prove the existence of magic to you but the question is, would you be able to believe it even after I show you?"